Improvement in fire-proof buildings



. H0 LTE.

Fre- Proof Buildings.

Patented March 4,1873.

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UNITED '11A ANDREAS K. noLrE, or GHIGAGO, rLL1Nois-- IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-PROF BUELDINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. i 5, dated Marchv 4, 1873.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREAS K. HoL'rE, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain Improvement in Fire-Proof Buildings, oi which the following is a speciiication:

The nature of my invention consists in constructing all buildings with roofs composed ot' arch es of brick, and covering the exterior Walls and such arched roof with a layer of proper thickness of cla-y upon the outside, so that the building may be able to withstand the heat of burning buildings around it, the construction ot' the roof affording a safeguard against being crushed in by falling dbris.' The layer of clay is, in turn, coated with hydraulic cement, or other equivalent material capable ot' resisting the inliuence of the weather.

Figure l represents a front elevation of a building constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of part of a frame building with a thin exterior brick wall. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section in a pla-ne indicated by the line x x of Fig. 2, showing the manner of constructing a light arched root' and of building a door tire-proof. Figs. 4 and 5 are views of tire-proof shutters and doors such as I prefer to employ.

The same letters ot' reference are employed in' all the figures in the designation ot' identical parts.

Buildings constructed of brick or stone are provided or covered with an arched roof ot brick, say nine inches in thickness, and both the exterior walls and the roof are plastered upon the outside with a layer of clay, a, which may vary in thickness from one-halt' of an inch to one inch, and may be mixed with a small proportion ot' glueV to give it sufticient adhesiveness. This layer of clay, when perfectly dry, is coated with cement b, or other suitable material not easily affected by the intluence ofthe Weather, and may finally be whitewashed or painted. Frame buildings are made without the outside weather-boarding, instead of which the frame-work is viacrketed in a thin brick wall, as shown in Fig. 2, where A represents the light brick wall; B, the uprights; and-C, an inside covering 'of board or laths, plastered in the ordinary manner.

The space between the outside brick wail and the inside lining may be filled with clay between the uprights, to add to the strength and durability of the wall. Frame houses and other houses built too frail for the support of a nine-inch brick arched root' may be covered by a bur-and-a-haltlinch brick arch, strengthcned by an interior frame-work of Wood or iron, in the manner illustrated in Fig. 3. All permanent wood-work of the building, Whether upon the exterior or interior thereof, should be covered with a thin coat of clay,'in manner like the walls and roof, to resist the iniuence of the heat of a hre. The doors may be built as shown in Fig. 3, where the upper part ot' the joists is embedded in clay I, supported upon boards H, and covered by the ordinary floorboards K.

The lower part of the joists is covered with a thick layer ot' plaster. and doors are all made of tire-prooi' construction, either by using iron or making them of wood, ribbed, and jacketed with a coat of clay, as indicated in Figs. 4 and 5, F representing the wooden door or shutter 5 E, the ribs thereon; and D, the coat ot' clay.

I here ordinary doors are used, additional nre-proof ones are provided, sliding in recesses in the wall, as shown in Fig. 2, so that should a tire occur in any one room in the house it may be con fined to such room by closing it up tight. The top ofthe chimney should also be provided with a metal damper to shut ott the draft through it in case of a re in the building.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A building constructed with an arched roof of brick, and having the exterior of its brick or stone walls and such roof covered with a layer of clay, which is, in turn, coated with hydraulic cement or its equivalent, substantially as and for the purpose specilied.

In testimony whereof I haveV signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. ANDREAS K. HOL'IE. Witnesses:

S. BEBER, EDM. F. BROWN.

The windowshuttersA 

